Third year of charm for the Toasty Bros.
The bare bones of the Toaster Coaster sits inside Toasty Bros. Beer, a local craft brewery in Denton.
Toasty Bros Beer Co-owners Toast Tiensvold and Gilley laugh as they build their coffin.
Early Saturday morning, Oct. 25, 2025, Toast helps Gilley test out his helmet for the upcoming coffin races.
Standing on the corner of E Bell Ave. and Hickory St., Toast, his partner Leah Jordan, and Gilley walk the coffin to their designated spot at the festival.
The Toaster Coaster matched Toast and Gilley's costumes for the festival as Batman and Robin, including the Toasty Bros license plate.
Toast and Gilley pose for a photo with friend Saul Sepulveda dressed as The Penguin. The Toasty Bros. costumes were based on the 1966 Batman movie with Adam West.
Lined up in position for the first race, Gilley poses for the crowd.
As the announcer begins stating the names of the teams, Toast and Gilley share a laugh with their opponents, MBS Seed Inc.
Gilley races the Toaster Coaster down Hickory Street, narrowly beating his opponent.
Gilley smiles at the cheering crowd as the Coffin Crew volunteers move hay bales out of his way.
Toasty Bros. Beer Company Co-owners Toast Tiensvold and Gilley are no strangers to the coffin races. The 2025 Day of the Dead festival marks Toast and Gilley’s third year as competitors in the race. Though this year they came out to win, the experience was much more than that. Dressed as renditions of the 1966 movie Batman and Robin, with their similarly decorated batmobile coffin, the Toasty Bros. spent most of Saturday, October 25th, posing for photos with little kids and greeting the various bar patrons who stopped by to say hello.
Toast and Gilley built their coffin from cardboard, chicken wire, welded metal, and an old boat seat. They spent the week before the Day of the Dead fest, coincidentally during their bar’s Toaster Fest music festival, duct-taping, zip-tying, and spray-painting the Toaster Coaster. There was an appeal to hand-crafting the entire coffin, I learned, as Toast explained how they similarly built their bar. Toasty Bros Beer Company has been a Denton staple for a couple of years now, known for its craft brews, such as the Rock Philosopher Undead Ale. They are part of the Denton Craft Brewing Alliance, alongside Union Bear and other well-known breweries in the city. “We sold out of Rock Philosopher today,” Gilley told me at the festival. “That’s like ten cases of beer. It’s crazy.”
Toast and Gilley were joined by many friends throughout the festival. Their coffin mechanic was Saul Sepulveda, who dressed as The Penguin in line with the Toasty Bros. costumes. Sepulveda spent the morning adjusting the steering, fixing the tape, and inflating the tires. “Those things are hard as rocks,” He had laughed, showing Gilley the tires. “You’re going to fly down that hill.”
Festival-goers also enjoyed taking pictures with Gilley, Toast, and Sepulveda, who enthusiastically portrayed their characters for little kids and adults alike. They spent their time waiting to race, drinking beer, and visiting with friends. The Toasty Bros. are well recognized in the Denton community, in and out of the costumes, though I overheard many festival-goers discussing the “Batman and Robin” duo throughout the day. The bar was even featured as a spot for Denton residents to watch the coffin races, run by Toast’s partner, Leah Jordan, known as Ms. Toast.
While they didn’t advance in the races this year, Gilley and Toast know they will be back next festival for more fun with the community. “The Coffin Races were a blast,” Gilley posted to his Instagram on Sunday, October 26, “We may not have placed again, but we won the hearts of the people.”